Marc Campeny, Inmaculada Menéndez, Luis Quevedo, Jorge Yepes, Ramón Casillas, Agustina Ahijado, Jorge Méndez-Ramos, José Mangas
{"title":"Rare earth element resources on Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, Spain: a geochemical and mineralogical approach","authors":"Marc Campeny, Inmaculada Menéndez, Luis Quevedo, Jorge Yepes, Ramón Casillas, Agustina Ahijado, Jorge Méndez-Ramos, José Mangas","doi":"10.5194/egusphere-2024-183","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<strong>Abstract.</strong> Rare earth elements (REEs) play a pivotal role in the ongoing energy and mobility transition challenges. Given their critical importance, governments worldwide and especially from the European Union, are actively promoting the exploration of REE resources. In this context, alkaline magmatic rocks (including trachytes, phonolites, syenites, melteigites and ijolites), carbonatites and their associated weathering products were subjected to a preliminary evaluation as potential targets for REE exploration on Fuerteventura Island (Canary Archipelago, Spain) based on mineralogical and geochemical studies. These lithologies show significant REE concentrations. However, only carbonatites exhibit the potential to host economically viable REE mineral deposits. REE concentrations in carbonatites of up to 10,301.83 ppm REY (REEs plus yttrium) have been detected, comparable to other locations hosting significant deposits of these critical elements worldwide. Conversely, alkaline magmatic rocks and the resulting weathering products display limited REE enrichment. Notably, REEs in carbonatites are associated with primary accessory phases such as REE-bearing pyrochlore and britholite, and secondary monazite. The carbonatites of Fuerteventura hold promise as prospective REE deposits within a non-conventional geological setting (oceanic island). However, due to intricate structural attributes and possible land use constraints, additional future detailed investigations are imperative to ascertain their genuine economic viability as substantial REE resources.","PeriodicalId":21912,"journal":{"name":"Solid Earth","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Solid Earth","FirstCategoryId":"89","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-183","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"GEOCHEMISTRY & GEOPHYSICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract. Rare earth elements (REEs) play a pivotal role in the ongoing energy and mobility transition challenges. Given their critical importance, governments worldwide and especially from the European Union, are actively promoting the exploration of REE resources. In this context, alkaline magmatic rocks (including trachytes, phonolites, syenites, melteigites and ijolites), carbonatites and their associated weathering products were subjected to a preliminary evaluation as potential targets for REE exploration on Fuerteventura Island (Canary Archipelago, Spain) based on mineralogical and geochemical studies. These lithologies show significant REE concentrations. However, only carbonatites exhibit the potential to host economically viable REE mineral deposits. REE concentrations in carbonatites of up to 10,301.83 ppm REY (REEs plus yttrium) have been detected, comparable to other locations hosting significant deposits of these critical elements worldwide. Conversely, alkaline magmatic rocks and the resulting weathering products display limited REE enrichment. Notably, REEs in carbonatites are associated with primary accessory phases such as REE-bearing pyrochlore and britholite, and secondary monazite. The carbonatites of Fuerteventura hold promise as prospective REE deposits within a non-conventional geological setting (oceanic island). However, due to intricate structural attributes and possible land use constraints, additional future detailed investigations are imperative to ascertain their genuine economic viability as substantial REE resources.
期刊介绍:
Solid Earth (SE) is a not-for-profit journal that publishes multidisciplinary research on the composition, structure, dynamics of the Earth from the surface to the deep interior at all spatial and temporal scales. The journal invites contributions encompassing observational, experimental, and theoretical investigations in the form of short communications, research articles, method articles, review articles, and discussion and commentaries on all aspects of the solid Earth (for details see manuscript types). Being interdisciplinary in scope, SE covers the following disciplines:
geochemistry, mineralogy, petrology, volcanology;
geodesy and gravity;
geodynamics: numerical and analogue modeling of geoprocesses;
geoelectrics and electromagnetics;
geomagnetism;
geomorphology, morphotectonics, and paleoseismology;
rock physics;
seismics and seismology;
critical zone science (Earth''s permeable near-surface layer);
stratigraphy, sedimentology, and palaeontology;
rock deformation, structural geology, and tectonics.